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ISSUE 712 28 SEP 2020 exepose.com @Exepose
THE UNIVERSITY OF EXETER’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1987
Reduced contact hours: “there is no student input”
Bryony Gooch Editor
Pete Syme Deputy Editor
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fter a week of schedules shifting and changing during Freshers’ Week, many students were confused after timetables finalised on 21 September displayed less contact hours than the average year. Contact hours have been split between synchronous teaching that is timetabled, and asynchronous teaching which is based on online resources. Exeposé obtained teaching plans from all six University colleges, which reveal the ‘norms’ and contact hours for learning amidst the pandemic. The majority of courses in the College of Humanities, such as AHVC, Archaeology, Classics and Art History, English and Film, shortened seminars from the typical two hour session to “at least 45 minutes for a 15-credit module and 60 minutes for a 30-credit module.” The English Department norms report stated: “We propose to retain seminars as the heart of our interaction with students, but recognise that the existing 1.5 or 2-hour discussion will not work effectively online.” Many students were alarmed to find themselves with two contact hours because their seminars, usually two hours long, were shortened to an hour each. One third year English student called it: “another kick in the teeth, that not only do we have our contact hours reduced but the contact hours we do have are even shorter. “Even though I support our lecturers completely right now, and I under-
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One third year maths student said their timetable displayed “roughly half of what I’d expect to have.” A Digital Learning Developer told us of their experience working with lecturers to develop ELE pages: “amongst the subscriptions that the University pays for, [they] have the capacity to
ROM her initial invitation, through to being uninvited and finally reinvited by a Students’ Guild director, Caroline Farrow’s platform at the Debating Society’s ‘This House Believes Sex Work is Real Work’ event on Friday 18 September was the centre of controversy. The Free Speech Union, led by Toby Young - an advocate of what he calls “progressive eugenics” - sent a letter to Vice Chancellor Lisa Roberts demanding that Farrow’s invitation be reinstated. Less than five hours later, the speaker received an email from Guild management, which explained “I can confirm that this was sent in error” and “we welcome your attendance.” DebSoc released a statement shortly before the event’s start, suggesting that the retraction was not an error, but because “her views have become a lot more extreme since she last attended an event with us.” They also explained how “the Students’ Guild reinvited this speaker” and “have told us we cannot run this event unless Farrow attends.” The initial retraction of the invitation explained “a number of articles have been brought to our attention concerning your widely-cited anti-LGBT activism” and noted that it is “in direct contradiction to the inclusive culture we wish to promote.” One student told PinkNews that the DebSoc committee was “fuming” about the re-invitation. They added: “while this
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Image: Kamila Bell
stand on their end this is a really difficult time to be teaching, I do worry that online learning will result in poorer quality of teaching.” When applying for the hardship fund, the student found they did not qualify as their course was “less than 25 per cent pro rata”. Similarly, Law’s norms report referred to “1 hour fortnightly synchro-
nous seminars in groups of 20.” One third year Law student confirmed that this differed to “the 1.5-2 hours I’ve previously had. But as I have not had one as of yet, I’m unsure how that will affect my studies.” STEM students have also been impacted, with a third year Computer Science student noting they have six this week, “which is little for a scientist.”
AMPLIFY
What it means to be a Person of Colour in Exeter PAGe 11
“Anti-LGBT” DebSoc speaker re-invited by Guild management
Images: Public Domain
Images: freestockcenter
ARTS + LIT
The power of photography during lockdown PAGE 16